The Rise of Mobile Payments
--
Mobile payments have been steadily growing over the past number of years, but with the rapid rise of technology, it is becoming a norm for almost everybody. With popular payments apps such as Venmo, PayPal, and Zelle to name a few, online transactions take over the need for in person transactions between people. Additionally, Apple Pay is becoming a leader for debit transactions, accounting for 92% of all mobile wallet debit transactions and surpassing $6 trillion worth of transactions last year.
Figure 1: The growth of mobile payments has increased exponentially for a number of crucial reasons
Security
Mobile payments are much more secure than typical payment processes, where cash and credit cards can easily be stolen or lost, mobile payments are highly secured with good quality microprocessors that are secure and reliable. Biometric authentication is also an emerging technology that is making digital wallets much more secure. With fingerprint and facial recognition, it makes identifying who is the owner of an account much more seamless and reliable which also reduces the risk of identify fraud or theft.
Convenience
The use of credit cards and cash has become outdated in a sense, where today everyone is on their mobile device, it only takes a matter of seconds to scan your phone and make a payment. With the advancement of technology, it only takes a few clicks to make a payment without the need for a tangible wallet.
Mobile Point-of-Sale Systems
One of the most essential aspects to mobile payments is the implementation of mobile point-of-sale systems(mPOS). These devices function as registers that allow businesses to take payments from smartphones or tablets and enable businesses to receive transactions in a much more efficient method. With a mPOS it is very scalable for large businesses as well as requiring no touch between customer and employee which is a crucial part of how people decide how to pay nowadays.
With the popularity of mobile payments will continue to grow as new technology is always being invented, the future of mobile payments will only grow and be part of our lives even more. With advances in blockchain technology, cryptocurrency transactions will play a major role in the future of mobile payments and, because of the nature of blockchain technology, where there is no central authority, it is attractive to consumers who don’t want an external force in control of their money. Cryptocurrency transactions are additionally very secure and the transaction process is very efficient and easy. These factors will influence the future of mobile payments, and we will most likely see a promising future of increased use of cryptocurrency transactions and the continued increase of mobile payments in general.
Disrupt is Northeastern University’s FinTech Initiative. To learn more about us and check out our offerings, find us on Instagram at @neudisrupt or on LinkedIn at Disrupt — The FinTech Initiative at Northeastern University.
Written by Isaac Schweiger, a second year at Northeastern University studying finance.
Sources:
https://www.cashbook.com/changes-in-payment-trends-over-the-last-10-years/
